October is officially known as Breast Cancer Awareness month. My question is this - what about the other 11 months of the year? Is October the only month to say it out loud? To those in the BC community, and those of us with MBC, it would be a fantastical dream if October was the only month we had to deal with it.
Another question is - who decided pink was the right color for cancer? Back in 199? the American Cancer Society joined forces with - guess what - a pharmaceutical company. Conflict of interest perhaps. Then along came Estee Lauder Corp who created the pink ribbon as a symbol for awareness. Fair enough - pink is considered the color for the feminine gender. But let me tell you pink is certainly not the color of cancer. Cancer isn't even a color. It's a lifestyle, it's a job, it's exhausting and it's scary. It isn't pink scarves, pink jewellery, pink makeup, pink ribbons or magazines devoting their October issues to the cause of breast cancer. Cancer inhabits not just the body, it takes up more space in the mind than one can possibly imagine.
The pink world is out of control. Pink is now a business unto itself. If it's pink then let's associate it with BC. Let's create another pink T-shirt, another pink lipstick, another pink coffee mug. Every October thousands of businesses create 'pink' merchandise and sell them with the promise of some token % to be donated to cancer research. Do you really need anymore pink? Instead of buying something pink for $20 and having 10% donated to research consider simply donating the $20 - you'll get a tax receipt for that and you won't have to put that pink thing in the back of your closet in the pink pile. Or simply don't buy it. Unless you really love pink or are under the age of 10.
Rest easy Jill
Excellent post Marlene! I have another bloggie friend who has MBC. Her question is always, "How do we know those companies aren't just slapping a pink ribbon on their product as a sales tactic?" Pink is overdone. I do wish that we would go back to one generic cancer color - we are all in the same fight! What about the poor person who has a rare form of brain cancer? What color is his/her ribbon?
ReplyDeleteOh Marlene, you shouldn't have gotten me started on this one!!!
Have a good day lovely lady! And rest in peace, Jill.
Thanks Audrey - that was me just getting started! I could go on and on - hopefully one day we will all get the point across.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should start a movement for a color for cancer - any cancer, perhaps grey.. maybe even black.. or varying shades thereof.
Enjoy your day my friend